House of the Raven (The Eldrystone #1)

25. CHAPTER 25

25

VALERIA

“This blade, my lord, is a gift, skillfully forged by the most adept fae blacksmith. It is invulnerable to the weave of magic.”

Llewelur Virsier - Fae Emissary - 1699 DV

T he royal guards at Nido’s gates can’t believe their eyes as I walk up to them, alone. Jago will come in later. It won’t be a stretch for Amira to figure out that he’s still helping me, but his absence might delay the realization.

I’m wearing the same dress from yesterday, with the corset tied even tighter, and my breasts straining against the fabric.

I also have makeup on and keep resisting the temptation to rub it off, wondering if this is the sort of thing one ever gets used to wearing all the time.

The white streak in my hair is fully visible now.

“Princess Valeria,” the guard in charge bows and orders the others to let me through.

Once inside Nido, I make my way to Father’s study, Amira’s now. That is the most likely place to find her at this time of the day .

My pointed heels make too much noise on the hardwood floor, and my dress rustles like a leaf-strewn lawn in autumn. These damn clothes announce my presence in every possible way.

At the double doors, I knock firmly and try to draw courage from the mother raven carved on the blackwood. My heart trembles, and my mind screams for me to run away. This could be the worst idea I’ve ever had. These could land me exactly where I don’t want to be.

There’s still time, Val. Hide! I glance right and left, feeling trapped.

The door opens. Emerito stands on the other side. At first, he doesn’t recognize me and looks annoyed at the interruption. But slowly, his expression changes, giving way to surprise.

“Va-valeria?” he stammers.

“ Princess Valeria to you,” I say, my tone as patronizing as what he uses on everyone below his station.

He stands frozen.

“I’m here to see Queen Amira.”

He has the look of someone whose thoughts are drowning in molasses. Maybe he’d been expecting to never see me again.

“Emerito, what is it?” My sister’s voice comes from inside the study.

I push past the still-dumbfounded Emerito and march toward the desk that occupies the center of the room. Amira sets her quill down and looks up. I’m expecting to see a reaction similar to Emerito’s, but she just stares at me with cold indifference.

“Look who has decided to stop playing hide and seek,” she says. “Why are you here? You wasted enough of our time already.”

“ Hello, Valeria, I’m so happy to see you. I’m glad you’re all right ,” I say in a high-pitched voice. “Nice to see you too, Amira, my dear sister.”

She reclines in her chair and crosses her arms, unamused. “Well, are you going to tell me why you’ve decided to come back?”

She’s not my sister. This can’t possibly be Amira. Her expression holds none of the love and sympathy I’m used to seeing there .

I take a deep breath. If somebody, namely Orys, is forcing her to play a part, it’s time for me to play mine. She and Father are right. I need to stop acting like a child, though that doesn’t mean I’ll turn into the adult they hope for.

“I have come to my senses,” I say. “I was wrong to think I could survive on my own.” The words taste rank in my mouth, even though I don’t mean them. “I’m here to do as you ordered.”

Behind me, Emerito coughs as if he has choked on his own saliva.

“Is that so?” Amira asks.

I nod.

“I don’t believe you. I think you’re here to play more games.”

I bow with a bit of chagrin. I’m trying not to overdo my performance. It’s a precarious balance.

“I don’t blame you,” I say, “but I promise you I’m serious. I do, however, have certain conditions.”

“You’re in no position to set conditions, Valeria.”

“I will not ask for more than my due. You dispatched me to Alsur like an old piece of luggage to be married off in obscurity, as if I’ve done something wrong.”

“But you have, sister. You dared disobey my orders, and people are discovering very quickly that this is not something I will tolerate. It seems even you’ve learned that as well.”

I want to jump over the desk, shake her, and ask her what’s wrong with her, but that led me nowhere before, so I smooth my dress instead and refrain from jumping.

“I have,” I admit between clenched teeth. In this case, it’s fine to let my irritation show for the sake of balancing my performance. “The last few days taught me some valuable lessons.”

Emerito chuckles. I look at him sideways and register the satisfied smirk on his face. He’s enjoying this far too much .

“I nearly died two nights ago,” I say. “You sent Bastien for me, and the carriage was attacked, as I’m sure you’ve learned. I had to wade through the sewers to escape.”

Amira’s face twists in disgust, just the effect I was going for.

“Foul,” Emerito sneers.

They have no idea that I would go through much worse to make those responsible for Father’s death pay. They don’t know that despite the hunger, cold, and lack of regular baths, I’ve never felt more alive than during the time I spent outside these walls.

“Bastien said the veilfallen took you.” Amira rests her elbows on the table and steeples her fingers. “So it’s true, you escaped?”

“I did. It wasn’t easy or sanitary, but I thought for sure they would kill me if I didn’t… forgo my sensibilities. It was then that I realized there isn’t a safe place for a Plumanegra to hide in this city. I would never be able to have a peaceful life, wouldn’t have the freedom I crave.”

The best lies are sprinkled with the truth , Father used to say, so I give Amira something she would expect to come out of my mouth. She knows freedom is what I want most.

“As it stands,” I add, “I would be freer in Alsur.”

“Hmm, you bested the veilfallen. Again. Not many get to do that. Their attacks have been relentless in the last few days. They keep besting us, and you just… escape.” She says the word escape as if getting away from River was a game I played.

She’s considering this as if it were the most important piece of information I’ve offered so far. I frown. This is what she’s choosing to focus on. Why?

“I’m not an easy target,” I say, “and you know that.”

Father made sure we both trained in self-defense and weaponry. He said he never wanted us to be damsels in distress, that we should be self-sufficient in every aspect of our lives. Amira shouldn’t be surprised by my ability to defend myself .

“Yes, but…” She lets the word hang.

“But what?”

Waving a hand in the air, she dismisses the whole thing. “Never mind. What matters is that you are here and have come to your senses .” The way she says the last bit makes me think she doesn’t believe me or suspects I’ll still cause trouble. “What are these conditions you’re talking about?”

All right, this seems to finally be moving in the right direction.

“I want Don Justo to court me properly. I want an engagement party, a ball here in Nido. I don’t want people to gossip and say I was spirited away because I got pregnant or some such nonsense. And I want a long engagement.”

“Fine.”

All the fight goes out of me. I didn’t expect her to agree so readily, especially to the long engagement part.

“I have a request of my own,” she adds.

And… all the fight rushes back in.

“What request?” I ask.

“I want you to give me Mother’s necklace.” Her brown eyes watch my reaction closely.

I’m genuinely confused, and I’m glad that’s the expression showing on my face. I wasn’t expecting this at all. Not after all the subterfuge.

“Mother’s necklace?” I shake my head.

“Yes.”

“Do you mean the one with the opal?”

“Precisely.”

“Why?”

“It turns out it might be of some importance,” she says.

“Really? Says who?”

“The veilfallen are looking for it.”

My jaw hangs open. Yet something else I wasn’t expecting. “Why would the veilfallen want Mother’s necklace?” I ask, feigning ignorance .

“I don’t know.”

I sense she’s not telling the truth. She knows why. If only I’d been able to get Maestro Elizondo to translate those pages already. Jago has them. He’s keeping them for me. I was afraid to walk in here wearing the evidence.

“That sounds insane. The veilfallen want a useless necklace Mother let us play with. That makes no sense.” I glance toward Emerito, wondering how much he knows.

“It stands to reason that it may not be as useless as we might have imagined,” Amira says.

“How do you know they want it?”

“Our spies came across that bit of intelligence.”

“We need to keep it safe and find out why the fae want to get their hands on it.”

“Well, it’s safe, all right,” I say, “because I lost that thing a long time ago.”

Amira stands up abruptly, her chair scraping the floor and nearly toppling over. “What do you mean you lost it?”

“I mean I lost it.”

“You did not!” She nearly shouts, which confirms my suspicions that she’s lying. She knows exactly why the veilfallen want it, and whatever the reason, it’s also why she wants it.

“I’m sorry, Amira. I was a child, and I used to play with it all the time as you might remember. Then one day, I must’ve left it somewhere. Maybe someone took it. Maybe it fell through a crack somewhere. I wasn’t worried about it. I just found something else to play with.”

“You’re lying.”

I blink. “Why would I lie about something like that? If I had it, I’d gladly give it to you. Hey, wait a minute!” I pretend to think hard about something. “Before I left for Alsur, someone searched my room. Did you have someone go through my stuff?” I let all the indignation I feel color my words.

“Of course, I did not.”

Such a liar.

“Well, someone did,” I say. “Do you think it was… a veilfallen spy? Oh, gods. Maybe Orys is working for them, after all. Is that why he killed Father? For that useless trinket?”

“Let’s not get carried away,” Amira says.

“But what if—”

My sister cuts me short. “It’s not your job to worry about these things. It is mine. All I want you to do is to think about where that necklace could be and to pacify Don Justo. He has accosted me every day since he arrived, demanding the presence of his promised bride. He has gone as far as to make threats that would endanger our position in the south. We have enough with the veilfallen. We need Don Justo to keep Los Moros in check. So you see, you do have some very important tasks to perform.”

The way I see it, my tasks align not at all with hers. Task number one is to protect Mother’s necklace and find out why it’s so important. Task number two, find Father’s murderer. Task number three, free Amira from whatever spell that sorcerer has on her. And task number four… Give Don Justo the boot. Eventually.

I incline my head. “As you wish, my queen.”

“Don’t mock me.”

“Oh, lighten up, Amira. There’s no need to become a different person just because you’re queen now. We’re still sisters, you know. You can count on me, talk to me if you need someone to listen.”

I wait for a little warmth to enter her expression. Amira has always been serious, and Father praised this quality because he said it would help her be a stern, yet just, ruler. However, no matter the circumstances, she maintained a tender side. She may have kept it hidden, but not all the time. Not with me .

“You can leave now.” She picks up her quill and goes back to writing, acting as if I’ve already left.

Emerito has remained quiet, absorbing every bit of information. He smirks stiffly as I make my way toward the door.

My heels click down the corridor as I make a loud exit, but when I reach the end of the hall, I take off my shoes, pick up my dress, and run back the way I came. Pressing my ear to the study’s door, I listen.

“Yes, she’s lying,” Amira says. “She still has the amulet.”

Shit!

“Are you sure?” Emerito asks.

“I am.”

Emerito says, “I guess you know her better than anyone.”

“We still need to keep a close eye on her, need to keep searching. We have to find that amulet.”

Silence, followed by steps.

I whirl and run back down the hall and turn the corner just as I hear the door open.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I make my way to my bedchamber. My mind is a battlefield of conflicting thoughts, each fighting to get to the frontline. I desperately need to think.